How Window Tinting is used for Insulation?

posted by Solar Shield, 8 months ago

Window film in general provides a perfect balance of energy efficiency, comfort, and cost savings – all year round in all climates. It keeps solar heat out of your house in the hot weather and radiant heat inside your home during cold weather. We get a lot of questions related to how windows tinting affects insulation in the winter. The first things we make sure our clients understand are the terms R-Value and U-Value which pertain to insulating numbers.

Difference between R-Value and U-Value

R-Value: A measure of thermal resistance for construction materials (wood, dry wall, brick and insulations). “Window film falls into the insulation category”.

U-Value: Associated with the windows and the rate of heat transfer.

Lower U-Value means a window has greater resistance to heat conduction and has better insulating properties. A standard window may have a U-value of .32 to 80. To compare these numbers to the R-values of other insulating factors, we convert the U-values to R-Value with the following equation: R-value = 1 ÷ U-Value.

Well, let’s say we have a window with an U-Value of .32 and we want to know the R-value.

R-Value = 1÷.32  3.125 R-Value

This is still a fairly low number for an R-value, meaning this window still isn’t the best at insulating. Now, let’s say we tint this same window with our EnerLogic Series film, the U-Value for EnerLogic 35 is .43. That is an R-value of 2.325 in addition to the existing R-value of the window itself, totaling to an R-value of 5.45. That’s more than 40% increase in R-value for the window.

EnerLogic Film

EnerLogic films essentially give single-pane windows the annual insulating performance of double-pane windows, and make double-pane windows perform like triple-pane windows. It definitely offers faster payback than other energy efficiency measures, such as replacing windows or heating/cooling systems. Also, R-Values and U-Values only tell half of the story. The best part of this window tint is the increased comfort and energy cost savings you’ll enjoy.